The Places I've Cried in Public (A BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick): 1

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Amelie tells the story about her relationship with her ex-boyfriend Reese who she met at school shortly after she and her parents moved to another part of England. The story is told from two different points in time, so she is basically telling the story of how she met Reese, fell in love and missed all the red flags until it was too late while reflecting on them, retracing and understanding what and why everything went wrong. Debido a lo angustioso de los temas que trata, no es un libro que se "disfrute", así que el hecho de que gusté o no se reduce a la capacidad del lector para sentir empatia. Sin esto, puede que más de uno se aburra, y lo siento. Con esto, cada página leída será como una puñalada, y también lo siento. Author Anna Kemp introduces The Hollow Hills, the sequel to her dark magical tale, Into Goblyn Wood. This delicate novel explores a concept that is rarely touched upon in YA books and it's done in such an exceptional way. The book is told through two different timelines, a before and after if you will, and I believe it was the right choice to tell this story in the best way possible. Alfie was consistent, and, because of that, I wasn't crazy. I was calm, I was chill - I was all the things you wanted me to be, Reese. But I was incapable of being those things with you. The more you wanted me to be that "chill" girl - the more you made it clear that your love for me depended on it - the less chill and more crazy I got. Because you weren't consistent.

This is a story of surviving love. Or put more clearly, this is a story of surviving what you thought was love. Afterwards, puzzled Amelie decides to revisit all the places she cried when with Reese and in the process of doing so, and replaying events with the benefit of hindsight, begins to realise that consistency is a highly underrated love trait, especially when compared to lying, cheating and the trauma of abuse. I swelled under the compliment and he looked at me with such wonder that I found myself believing him. Maybe I do have a way with words. Maybe I am wise for my years... There's nothing more intoxicating than seeing your best self through the lens of someone's adoring eyes. When her dad is made redundant, their family is uprooted from Sheffield to the South of England, meaning Amelie leaves her friends, and boyfriend behind. She and Alfie have an agreement, they’ll meet again at university but in the meantime, they are free to live their lives apart. But this story isn’t about Alfie, the boy who is there as an example of a healthy relationship.

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She has a clever author voice and is able to speak to teenagers in their language, creating credible characters with whom young people can genuinely identify. I burned with fury while reading this book, and I hurt for Amelie so much. There was one horrible part of the book (CW: sexual assault) that I do find myself wishing wasn't added, just because I really appreciated the way this book focused on a more covert kind of abuse that I've seen too often and is harder to pinpoint. I cannot tell you how many friends I've comforted because the guy they were seeing was playing mind games, making plans then cancelling last minute, blowing hot and cold, or making snide comments about their appearance, clothes, or interests. Let’s start with the easy stuff. This book is about a teenage girl called Amelie who adores music and vintage cardigans. She has just ended a relationship with a guy called Reese (who is literally the devil but more on that later) and she is completely and utterly broken by it. I really enjoyed that the narrative was told in dual timelines - and I liked that we learnt what happened during the relationship and how it began at the same time as knowing what Amelie was currently going through. Holly Bourne definitely knew how to weave the timelines together so it flowed naturally and didn’t take me out of the story. It was also told in second person, with Amelie speaking directly to Reese, which I thought was a nice and unique touch. tw: sexual assault, controlling relationships, emotional abuse and manipulation, gaslighting, social anxiety, cheating, ptsd These useful springboards for debate and learning contain short, relevant extracts from the book along with a selection of thought-provoking discussion questions and flexible activities that include roleplay, vlogging, mind-maps and memory maps.

Girls cry on park benches. Girls cry in train station waiting-rooms. They cry on the dance floor of clubs.Trigger warnings in this book for discussion and depictions of emotional and sexual abuse by a boyfriend. A very well done and important book, please be warned that this book does contain Trigger Warning, and if you would like me to tell them to you my inbox is always open. Holly Bourne has articulated something I've never had the ability to do myself and when I read the last chapter I cried out of relief that someone else had voiced this with so much respect. A new college. A new city and that is when she meets Hannah-who gets the best friend of the year award-on the very first day and makes a friend. The Places I’ve Cried in Public isn’t a love story, but it’s a book that talks about love, for sure. What you might mistake for love, but isn’t, the all consuming feelings of getting slowly trapped into a relationship and, before it’s too late, before you can or are really managing to listen to your gut, you’re in too deep. I loved the discussions on that, I loved how it opens up an important, important conversation about abuse in relationships, sometimes one that might not seem like it, at first, either.